How dangerous is it for sloths to poop? Why do so many otters die unexpectedly while pooping?

Because sloths always come down from the trees to poop, coupled with their slow movement and long excretion process, they are easily attacked by predators and die. Studies have shown that more than half of the accidental deaths of adult sloths occur when they poop.

Sloths are globally recognized for their slowness, and their daily life in a tree has degenerated them to the point where they crawl with their forelimbs dragging their bodies, moving only meters and seconds, or even slower, so that when they are in crisis, they are very difficult to get out of, and any predator can eat them without much effort. In addition to their slow movements, sloths also have a slow metabolism, they only eat 60 grams of leaves a day, and it takes more than a week for sloths to go from eating to excrement.

Although most arboreal animals defecate in trees, sloths are bound to come down from trees. In addition to being slow, sloths also have a large amount of defecation, and it is said that they can excrete about one-third of their body weight in feces at a time. As a result, bowel movements can be extremely lengthy, often up to a day, making them an easy meal for ground predators.

Why would a sloth descend from a tree at the risk of being captured by predators? The most convincing conjecture put forward by scientists is that there is a creature called the sloth moth that inhabits the sloth's hair, and that the greater the number of sloth moths, the higher the algae content in the sloth's hair. These algae are easy to digest and high in nutrients, making them one of the best foods for sloths**, while green algae also provide the perfect protective color for sloths and blend in with the rainforest.

A sloth has more than 120 sloth moths on its body, and they feed on the secretions and algae of the sloth. The sloth moth lays its eggs on the sloth's droppings, and when the eggs hatch, the larvae feed on the sloth's droppings, after which the grown sloth moths return to the sloth's body. In this way, a miniature ecosystem is formed on the body of the sloth, and the mutual benefit and symbiosis are all happy, isn't it beautiful?

Sloths move slowly, they poop for up to six hours, during which time they are attacked by predators at any time, they move slowly, and when predators attack them, they cannot escape. So a lot of sloths die unexpectedly while pooping.

Tree otters like to dig holes in the ground and poop and the otter itself is very slow, wild otters are easy to be attacked by other carnivores when they poop in the hole, and otters who don't have time to dodge are easy to die unexpectedly.

Because the sloth poop has to come to the ground, this time is very long, so it will be attacked by many natural enemies, resulting in death.

The shape of the sloth is slightly like a monkey, the movement is slow, and it often hangs upside down on the branch for several hours without moving, so it is called a sloth.

It often dies because it moves very slowly when pulling poop, and is often preyed upon by predators.

Because it takes six hours to poop once, starving itself to death in the process of